Reply #31: I'm curious

[OKIsItJustMe]

Why do you think the US (for example) has a lower fertility rate (2.09) than the world average (2.59)? Why does the EU have an average fertility rate of 1.50?

Is it because of high infant mortality rates in “developed countries?”

Why is world fertility down from 2.80 in 2000 to 2.59 in 2007? (What has changed in seven years?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_fertility_rate


I would hazard to say that it has something to do with education and/or health care.

(I've heard it said that the best birth control is the belief by mothers that their children will survive to adulthood.)

http://www.populationaction.org/Publications/Reports/Mapping_the_Future_of_World_Population/Summary.shtml

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The medium projection, most commonly cited among UN projections, is the one used to make this world map of projected population distribution in 2025. The upper and lower curves define the range of what the UN demographers consider possible paths for world population between the present and the end of the 23rd century.

Source: United Nations Population Division, 2003

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